


from the heart

by dreamsdark



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Gen, secret anna
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 09:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17138885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamsdark/pseuds/dreamsdark
Summary: Call it holiday spirit or whatever.





	from the heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [soundlolgic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/soundlolgic/gifts).



> this was what i made for the secret anna gift exchange!
> 
> i'm a lil rushed posting this, hopefully there aren't formatting errors..

 

Crimea’s winters weren’t nearly as bad as Daein’s, but it was still enough for Shinon to want to bury himself under blankets until spring returned. As the Greil Mercenaries were on a short break, Shinon intended to do exactly that. If it wasn’t for a tentative knock breaking his sleepy stupor, he wouldn’t even have left his bed that day.

“What.” He was used to Rolf coming in to ask about random crap by now, and that was definitely a Rolf knock.

Rolf let himself in, closing the door behind in quickly as possible—but still not quick enough to stop a cold draft from sweeping across the room. Shinon hissed, burrowing further into his blanket cocoon. “Sorry!”

“Just tell me what you want.”

“Uh...” As Rolf pondered over how to phrase his request, Shinon reluctantly sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Do you know how...” He held up brightly colored paper. “Gifts?”

“...you’re giving me paper as a gift?” 

“N-no, just to wrap this!” Rolf picked up a bow he’d laid against the wall. “It’s—”

“For your brother?” Shinon held it up, feeling its weight. “The dumb one,” he clarified. 

“You can tell?”

“It’s heavy, sturdier than the bows you use—or the ones I taught you to make. Perfect for a musclehead like him, though.” 

“Yes!” Eyes practically sparkling, Rolf launched into an explanation. “Boyd finally let me help him with practicing— _finally_ , he’s so  _stubborn_ , even though  _I’m_  the obvious expert archer here—”

“Expert archer, huh?” He hid a smile by disguising it as a cough.

“Since you’re the best archer, and I’m your best apprentice—right, Uncle Shinon?”

“...Yeah.”  _Only apprentice, too..._

“So, I watched him shoot for a bit—he’s actually a lot better at shooting targets than in battle? Well, most people would be since they don’t move and there aren’t people dying around you, but—“

“Get to the point.” Shinon was surrounded by people who never did that.

“Oh, right! The point...I think he’d be more accurate if he didn’t have to worry about breaking his bow. So I made one that wouldn’t break!”

“Huh.” Shinon honestly couldn’t care less about that brother if he tried, but he couldn’t deny the pride he felt at Rolf finally making a decent bow. 

He took the paper and knelt down, quickly wrapping the bow, then used some of the excess like a ribbon to tie it together. “Happy?”

“So fast...” Rolf stared in awe. “Wait, you can still tell this is a bow, can’t you?”

“Obviously.” The shape was distinct. “If you wanted it to be a surprise, that’s not my problem.”

Rolf took the newly-wrapped gift, pouting. “Whatever, Boyd still probably won’t be able to tell...” 

Shinon snickered. “Definitely.” And since he was already here... “Hey, Rolf. Whaddya want?”

“Um, I already told you—“

“I meant as your own gift.” Shinon didn’t have to ask Rolf to know he already had something for him, so he was probably obligated to give a gift back or something. 

“F-for me?” he spluttered. “But—Uncle Shinon, you don’t have to! You already gave me the best gift ever—“  _What, the ability to get yourself killed in battle?_  “—and my first bow, and—and—“

“Call it holiday spirit or whatever.” Not that he was all that familiar with it, but he was pretty sure it involved giving gifts at the very least.

“A-anything from you—I’d like it! But you really don’t...”

“Shut it. I’ll do whatever I please.” 

“O-okay!” This time, Rolf was smiling.

* * *

 

The hard part was actually deciding what to get for him. Being raised by the mercs practically since he could walk and talk, Rolf had never asked for much. 

So the next day, Shinon slipped out to visit a nearby market. Maybe something there would give him an idea—he could probably get something for Gatrie too, while he was there. And maybe...nope, that was it. 

(Maybe he’d visit Greil’s grave with a bottle of his favorite once this was all over...)

Gatrie was easy, since he would always look longingly at things he wanted but never actually buy them for himself, selfless bastard he was. Shinon had tagged along with him on a market trip a few days ago to make sure he didn’t get conned like usual, so he knew exactly what to get this time. 

A tiny wooden figure of a knight in blue armor...it was pretty obvious why Gatrie would want this one. After a literal hour of haggling with the shopkeeper, Shinon reluctantly paid and carefully pocketed brightly-colored gift bag. 

But Rolf? He’d appreciate anything, knowing him, but that felt like cheating somehow. No, Shinon needed something that he’d really like. Somehow, Shinon ended up scouring every stall until the market closed, still unable to find anything suitable.

_Anything from me, huh…_

Unfortunately, the only thing Shinon had right then was a wooden carving of a knight that was already meant for someone else. He took it out of the bag, glaring at it like it’d tell him a brilliant idea with enough intimidation.

Actually… It was hardly the worst idea he had—better than nothing, at any rate. He already had some wood stored away to make bows with; carving a doll couldn’t be that different from crafting a bow, right?

After his fifth failed attempt, he regretted even thinking that. Still, he was nothing but stubborn, so as night turned to early dawn, Shinon continued chipping away at his supply of carefully picked timber. By the time he had something resembling human (if one arm was considerably shorter than the other) it was well past noon. Only the sound of a knock—different, this time—snapped him out of his single-minded determination. “Gatrie,” he acknowledged, hastily shoving his attempts behind him.

“Hey, Shinon! Didn’t see you for lunch, so…what’s that?” Of course Gatrie noticed anyway. Tired as he was, Shinon failed to find an excuse to stop him from looking until he already picked up his most recent attempt. “Hey, this is pretty good!”

“Don’t sugarcoat it.”

“I’m not! Just…” Gatrie plucked the knife out of Shinon’s hands, ignoring his halfhearted protests, and quickly got to work. “See, you got a good base, just have to…” In seemingly no time at all, Gatrie had molded his ugly lump of wood into a small soldier.

Shinon stared, gaze flicking between the newly-carved figure and his knife, until Gatrie broke into a nervous giggle. “If you—I mean, d-do you want me to…” He made an incomprehensible hand motion. “I’m kinda familiar with this stuff, so if you want…” A long pause. “… _help_ , I wouldn’t—”

“Alright.” In any other case, his pride might have stopped him, but this was for Rolf. He deserved better than whatever Shinon could throw together in the short time he had.

That was how Shinon justified it to himself anyway, as he dozed off to Gatrie’s stuttering explanation and the sound of metal carefully cutting through wood.

**Author's Note:**

> if feh can have christmas seasonals then I can vaguely pretend tellius has Some HolidayTM right
> 
> here's my twitter ([@endsream](https://twitter.com/endsream))


End file.
